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A bright spot was the sale of tobacco products, which Dollar General started carrying in
mid-2013, but the discount chain said its customers are generally still pinching their pennies.

“Our core customer doesn’t feel she is out of the woods yet economically and continues to be
cautious with her spending,” Chief Executive Rick Dreiling told analysts on a conference call. He
cited cuts in government assistance, such as food stamps, among factors hitting low-income
customers.

Sales in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, which ended on Jan. 31, rose 6.8 percent to $4.49
billion. Analysts on average were expecting $4.62 billion, according to Thomson Reuters
I/B/E/S.

Earnings increased to $322.17 million, or $1.01 per share, from $317.4 million, or 97 cents per
share, a year ago.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest automaker, said yesterday that its net profit fell by more than
half in 2013 as it earned less from midrange passenger cars and did not have one-time gains that it
booked for 2012.

Net profit in the full year fell to $12.55 billion. VW recorded a gain in 2012 related to its
acquisition of Porsche. But the 2013 drop in income was not just an accounting artifact: Profit on
Volkswagen-brand cars, which account for more than half of sales, fell substantially.

Although Volkswagen did not break out figures for the fourth quarter of 2013, it said that sales
in 2014 have been encouraging, confirming broader signs that the European auto market is slowly
recovering. The company said it sold 1.5 million cars and trucks in January and February, a 5
percent increase from the first two months of 2013.

Chief executive Martin Winterkorn said Volkswagen could sell more than 10 million vehicles this
year. VW sold 9.7 million in 2013.